Sugar’s tasty VW

WE'RE SUPPORTING

I love the work of Sydney graffiti and stencil artist Emily Hasselhoof. Bold, bright and bizarre, her images are like the dreams of a serial tripper. Evil little girls dressed in fluorescent garb commit unspeakable acts while green rabbits are devoured by sharks and odd little ponies masquerade as equine medusas. Hasselhoof regularly exhibits around town. I caught her show at Ruban Rat in Newtown last year where I was blown away by her fantastic use of colour. Read more

WE'RE TRAVELLING TO

One of my favourite venues in New York is Brooklyn’s Union Hall, right around the corner from Tamari, a super sushi joint. Upstairs they have two massive fireplaces burning and a bocce ball court. Yup, bocce. Downstairs you feel like you’ve walked into the museum of natural history where you can see live bands on a stage reminiscent of grandma’s living room.

WE'RE WEARING

For an industry that spends so much time fratenising with musicians, few designers ever admit to being primarily influenced by the music industry itself. Electronic Poet are an exception. Read more

WE'RE THINKING

Preferring to focus on the content of her pictures rather than the style is a refreshingly honest approach to design. It’s worked out brilliantly for Swedish illustrator Alexandra Falagaras, whose works are easy to spot with their sharp graphic style. My favourite piece of hers is a contribution to The Book of Dreams, a project where kids’ dreams are collected then illustrated by artists.

WE'RE READING

I’ve been a big fan of Michelle Vandermeer’s work since I came across her Mini Majellen zines at this year’s Sydney Writers Festival. Describing herself as a doer — as in one of those people who are always doing or making something — Michelle’s work, which includes book binding, illustration, jewelery making and her zines, stems from an internal creative springboard and a double degree in architecture and graphic design. Her work is smart and succinct. Read more

‘Lost’ is the most recent film production in the urban art series produced by Tokyo-based art crew Rinpa Eshidan. Read more

WE'RE LISTENING TO

The Los Angeles musician, Ariana Delawari — aka Lion of Panjshir — is half Afghan and half Sicilian and makes wonderfully enlightened weirdo folk rock. I hope she takes that as a compliment! Her music is delicate and powerful and she is a pure artist. Everything she does has that magic light in it. She made her new album partially in Afghanistan, and many of the lyrics deal with the continued oppression of people’s liberties by the Taliban.